Tama Tonga publicly bowing out of the tournament a month ago makes even more sense now since he was clearly going to be losing his spot.

I had assumed the 4 openings (Kenny, Hangman, Elgin, Tama) were going to Ospreay, Taichi, Cobb, and Kojima. Instead 3 of them have now been filled by Moxley, Shingo, and KENTA. Wild. This tournament is gonna rule.

No clue on that last spot now. Cobb's already been announced for the Dallas show, but Taichi really deserves to go in with the work he's done, and Kojima never got his last farewell run. But who else can you even bump? It's not going to be YOSHI-HASHI.

I'd guess Makabe who is a tourney staple might be next in line. Maybe Fale too since he's not been around a lot.

Ospreay apparently also announced his entry during his post match interview so that would be all of the free spaces taken.

I've heard that Tanahashi has said somewhere that he has "requested" to sit this year out since he hasn't 100% recovered from his surgery and doesn't feel like he would last through a G1. That would free up a slot again.

With Koji losing to Shingo they might just not have him in this year. While he should be in, I could totally see them not putting Taichi in again and having him go on backstage rants about it. Gedo might straight up just not book Goto because how else can he bury the poor guy at this point? This year feels anything could happen.

This.

G-1 has been mostly the same people for a few years now. Adding a handful of new talent will definitely spice things up.

Kenta in NJPW is cool but when Shibata's music hit, a big part of me was hoping he was announcing he was cleared to wrestle again.

I'm fine with the G-1 having a massive makeover. Having the same people in it every year kind of feels...not passe, that's too strong a word. But it helps it feel like the product is evolving and helps it go through a major shift.

<iframe width="907" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NL1-mg00s1c" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Mox is the best. So happy he's where he is. Punk could've done this, :(

Wow Super J Cup on the west coast in August. 3 shows, San Fran, the PWG theatre, and Walter Pyramid!

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!

Whole thing is good, Jericho strikes again with Bakahashi @ 2:56....

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Lance Archer just posted a video confirming he’s entering the G1

Okay...there’s no way they aren’t expanding the field at this point. Much like the NJ Cup and BOSJ, they’re going to run the biggest G1 ever.

Only thing is I don’t know how they break out the schedule for an expanded G1 since they’ve already announced the tournament will be 19 dates. Like BOSJ there will probably be a few cards composed entirely of singles matches.

Without prelim tags to skip when I’m strapped for time it’s going to be nearly impossible to stay on top of this.

They could do four six-man blocks which would be more manageable.

BUT....even though the winner will have conquered the “Largest G1 Ever”, there’s a caveat they’ll have wrestled fewer matches than previous winners.

My money is on Ospreay to take it and go on to face Okada at the Dome. Also I'm thinking they may do Jericho vs Tanahashi at G1 in Dallas as the main event.

I think it’s Ibushi’s year.

Maybe it’s the same amount and they’re just removing more of the usual suspects. Could see them taking out Yoshi and Makabe to make room for fresh faces.

Given YOSHI is moving into a ZSJ program I think he’s probably safe but who knows.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">��We know there's a real shortage of professional wrestling on Monday nights, so every week we make a new match from our archives free to watch!<br>This week, a war between Tomoaki Honma and Katsuyori Shibata from 2016<a href="https://t.co/6v4oRzOcUC">https://t.co/6v4oRzOcUC</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#njpw</a> <a href="https://t.co/wHMtDLLnpm">pic.twitter.com/wHMtDLLnpm</a></p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href="https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1138219444516376581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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If they do move to 24:

Returnees (16):
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kota Ibushi
Togi Makabe
Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada
Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto
Toru Yano
YOSHI-HASHI
Jay White
Bad Luck Fale
Tetsuya Naito
SANADA
EVIL
Minoru Suzuki
Zack Sabre Jr.

Publicly Announced Intent to Enter (6):
Jon Moxley
KENTA
Jeff Cobb
Will Ospreay
Shingo Takagi
Lance Archer

That would still leave two openings, one of which would hopefully be Taichi.

So the final spot would be a toss up depending on what they wanted to do with it. If they wanted a farewell run, there's Kojima. If they wanted more Bullet Club representation, it could be Chase. If they wanted to give another spot to one of their affiliates it could be Brody King/Rush/Colt Cabana.

SHOTS FIRED

I wonder if Davey Jr is actually done with New Japan then after all his bitching, I certainly wouldnt miss him.

Cabana might not be in it because the dates clash with the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Maybe he would sit out a year there if it meant he got to do the G1 but it's already advertised, venue booked etc so it's not like he would just have to cancel a few indy dates.

Changed a Battery for a guy wearing a Swtichblade shirt yesterday. I had a bit of difficulty, but once I finished, I said "Tranquilo!"

Really hopeful Ishii and Moxley are in the same block. That is gonna be bonkers when it happens.

Can someone summarize Davey's issues with NJPW? Or link me.

He was pissed about being booked in a comedy match with Yano.

He mainly just wants to work in more shows than he currently is. Like with Kushida, the company has him locked into a very specific spot or role and don't see any need to change it to improve his standing.

His tag partner, Lance Archer, isn't featured as much these days in shows but its also due to him being busy with backstage stuff for the company so at least he has steady work there.

He's been complaining very publicly about his position on the card for at least two years, believes he should be a singles champion and that he's being horribly misused. He shit all over Omega / Yano, resulting in Kenny burying him on twitter (something along the lines of "I'd rather get over for one night with comedy than fail at getting over as a serious wrestler for my entire career") and then New Japan booking him against Yano in the New Japan Cup two years in a row where he refused to go along with Yano's schtick and looked like even more of a dope than if he had just played along. It seemed both of those Yano matches were to curb his attitude and he refused to play ball both times so it's no surprise they don't want to use him. Guy generally comes off as a gigantic arsehole.

Archer on the other hand had his water spitting gimmick taken off him, which had actually gotten him over, and he didn't make a big fuss over it. They gave him a small run in the New Japan cup to show what hes got and he impressed people (easy to do against Ospreay sure, but he also did well against Henare). New Japan not wanting to feature KES really seems like more of a Davey problem than a Lance problem.

I haven’t seen anything that special from him, tbh.

I really like Davey Boy Jr... Saddens me to hear that he's not that cool.

Davey's issues with Yano G1 matches is extra dumb when you consider those matches are usually meant to be extra rest for certain talent. Same for any tournament he's involved in.

Crowd gets some laughs and certain talent get to ease up on the wear-and-tear during a grueling schedule period.

Philosophically, I don't disagree with Davey at all. The guy is really good, but he's got the perception of being "boring" or a flop to the niche audience. He's not "trendy" to a subculture that is going to dictate whether or not you get over.

While Davey is really good at the whole wrestling thing, he really could find something to push him over to that next level. It might be an environmental/booking thing, but he needs to set himself up in a context where he can prove that he can be that level of guy.

Apparently the reason for Shibata's awkward pointing for KENTA's surprise debut was due to KENTA getting lost backstage and couldn't find where the stage entrance was located.

Spinal Tap moment.

Everyone has one.

Oh fuck, Gedo has stepped down

NJPW sources denying the rumors now

Hope it's not true

If you see something on wrestletalk it’s probably not true.

A very reliable source in Japan denied the Gedo rumor.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The crazy rumor was not true. I didn't think so. Replacing the booker is a big deal in wrestling. If something like that was to take place, we would have heard about it weeks in advance. <a href="https://t.co/MGrnqVPNyR">https://t.co/MGrnqVPNyR</a></p>&mdash; 斎藤文彦 (@Fumihikodayo) <a href="https://twitter.com/Fumihikodayo/status/1139613025457934336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Seems like it's not true, but it still makes you wonder where it has come from. Some people are suggesting that Gedo might be sharing power now.

Truth be told, as awesome as Gedo is, he might deserve a fucking break.

According to Voices of Wrestling, Davey Boy Smith Jr has left NJPW.

Also seems the NJPW-ROH partnership took another hit recently. Juice Robinson supposedly has left ROH due to not liking his time in the company and others within NJPW currently hold similar feelings on ROH.